I covered two presidents,
LBJ and Nixon, who could no longer convince, persuade, or govern, once people had decided they had no credibility, but we seem to be more tolerant now of what I think we should not tolerate.
Every President hates the Press. <---- NOT Republican Presidents hate the press.
All presidents rail against the press. It goes with the turf.
We in the press have a special role since there is no other institution in our society that can hold the President accountable. I do believe that our democracy can endure and prevail only if the American people are informed.
Every president thinks that all information that comes to the White House is their private preserve after they all promise an open administration on the campaign trail, but some are more secretive than others. Some want to lock down everything.
Andrew Denton:
What about Ronald Reagan? Was he a simple man, as he appeared?
Helen Thomas: Nothing…
I don't think he was very simple. I think that he was…He certainly had deeply conservative convictions by the time he became President…He really started out as a Democrat. He had been head of the Screen Actors Guild — president of it — six times. And, er, I guess, in those days he would have been considered fairly liberal. But he really swung to the right. Not as right as this President [Bush], but certainly conservative.
And, er, he…he liked being liked. And, er, the American people certainly moved with him.
I think there was a Reagan revolution. He did turn our country to the right where it's been ever since.
On Obama: Helen Thomas has covered a lot of presidents, and she’s not much of a fan of how the current one manages the press. The 89-year-old reporter tells CNS that Obama’s White House tries to stage-manage news conferences and other media events like no other. “
Nixon didn’t try to do that,” Thomas said. “They couldn’t control (the media). They didn’t try.”
On Gerald Ford: “Gerald Ford was gentle, very kind. His great aspiration was to be Speaker of the House. He never really aspired to be President, but lightening struck.
He turned out to be a good president because he really restored confidence in the Oval Office and a sense of security in the country after the Watergate scandal.”
- Rush Limbaugh declared Thomas "Our Woman in Washington" after an incident in which a reporter asked Bill Clinton, "Are you mad at Panetta?", and when he said "What for?", Thomas shouted out, "Because everything's going down the drain... is that true?" Limbaugh augmented the soundbite "Everything's going down the drain" and used it repeatedly on his program. She later asked a White House official, "Is everything going down the drain?" Limbaugh reaffirmed her position as "Our Woman in Washington" when his anonymous correspondent, "Our Man in Washington" got kicked out of a press conference and she came to his aid.
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